Exactly a decade ago, power star Pawan Kalyan was invincible. One could witness Pawan’s juggernaut in the industry where he was literally conquering all grounds. His successive blockbusters like Toli Prema, Thammudu, Badri, Kushi took Pawan Kalyan to unparalleled heights in Telugu movie industry. But all that is passé as the ageing power star is unable to hardly strike form in the recent years.

Two years after Kushi (2001), Pawan Kalyan came up with his directorial debut ‘Johnny’ (2003). The movie was a disaster and Pawan failed as a director and also as an actor. His subsequent movies Gudumba Shankar, Balu ABCDEFG, Bangaram, Annavaramm, were huge duds. Although Jalsa gave him some respite, Pawan was back to flop spell with movies like Komaram Puli, Teenmaar, and now Panjaa. In his last 9 movies (from 2001 – 2011) Pawan Kalyan managed only a single hit. Now that’s really a dangerous sign for someone of his calibre.

On the other side, during this 10 years span, film industry saw stars like Mahesh Babu and Jr. NTR growing. In fact, both these actors have exactly delivered blockbusters during Pawan Kalyan’s slump. NTR came up with movies like ‘Student No: 1, Aadi, Simhadari, Rakhi, Yamadonga, Adhurs, Brindavanam while Mahesh Babu delivered smash hits like Murari, Okkadu, Pokiri, Athadu and Dookudu and eventually emerged as huge brands in market.

Now is the rise of Jr. NTR and Mahesh Babu, the fall of Pawan Kalyan? Moreover, Pawan is facing intense competition from his own family circuit in the form of Ram Charan and Allu Arjun. Both these actors have already proved and carved a niche for themselves. While Allu Arjun stamped his authority with Arya, Bunny, Desamuduru, Vedam, etc., Ram Charan delivered blockbuster like Magadheera.

Even on brand endorsements fronts, Pawan Kalyan is a huge disappointment. With Pawan failing to score success at the box office, corporates were quickly replacing him with stars like Mahesh Babu, who comprehensively swept the market. NTR, Ram Charan and Allu Arjun also endorsed few brands writing off Pawan completely. Beyond all these, Pawan Kalyan hardly promotes his movie. Previously, the same was the case with Mahesh Babu who never used to face the media but Prince recently re-discovered the significance of the fourth estate and has even lined up few interviews after his blockbuster Dookudu. However, Pawan neither gave any interviews nor aggressively promoted any of his films, and this is a big blotch on his career. So where does this leave Pawan Kalyan? Although there’s a huge (persisting) fan base, Pawan already lost huge market to other heroes and its time he makes up for the lost ground. Can Pawan rediscover his lost touch? Let’s see whether Gabbar Singh speaks otherwise!